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WBS Pens proceed as normal under lockout

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With the NHL expected to declare a lockout once the collective bargaining agreement between the league and its players expired at midnight, the hockey world was braced for a seismic shock late Saturday night.

In the AHL, however, it was business as usual.

The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins will open the season as scheduled Oct. 12 no matter how long the NHL's labor dispute drags on.

"We are a different league," Penguins CEO Jeff Barrett said. "We have an NHL relationship, obviously, but our players are in a different union and we're in the middle of a five-year agreement. We've never had a work stoppage."

The Penguins' roster will look pretty much the same as it would have if a lockout never happened.

Pittsburgh sent down 23 players before the clock struck midnight Saturday - seven veterans who cleared waivers earlier in the day, eight players with AHL experience who did not need to clear waivers and eight rookies.

Six other players - forwards Eric Tangradi and Steve MacIntyre, defensemen Brian Strait and Robert Bortuzzo and goalies Jeff Zatkoff - can join Wilkes-Barre/Scranton if they sign separate AHL contracts.

Add those 29 players to four who have already signed AHL deals and the Penguins will have more than enough roster depth to successfully start the season.

"I think it has the potential to be a very special team," Barrett said. "For the first time in a long time, I think we have a good mix of top AHL veterans and top prospects, two first-rounders, two second-rounders. I think it will be a very competitive team."

AHL training camp will officially begin before the end of the month, although about a dozen players have already arrived at the Ice Rink at Coal Street to begin preparations.

Second-year winger Paul Thompson is one of them.

"We just have to come here and be prepared for whenever things start," he said. "Whether it's Pittsburgh or whether it's here, you want to be in top shape. You come to the rink and whenever they tell you training camp starts, be ready."

For as long as the NHL remains shut down, the AHL will be the top professional hockey league playing in North America. That can't help but to increase the league's public profile.

The last time there was a lockout, in 2004-05, AHL attendance increased by about 6.5 percent from the previous season. The Penguins didn't see a similar bump. Their attendance dropped about 1 percent from 2003-04 to 2004-05.

"My personal belief is that any time the parent club is not playing, it's not good," Barrett said. "Will it help short term in Wilkes-Barre? Maybe a little, but I'm more interested in getting everything resolved because in the long term, when the NHL is healthy, the AHL is healthy."

During previous lockouts, AHL games have received increased television coverage, both nationally and regionally. Barrett said the Penguins will still show Saturday night home games on WQMY-TV, but talk of any television scheduling beyond that is premature.

"If Root Sports wants to talk to us, they'd probably want to wait to make sure the NHL is not playing," he said.

If television networks decide to broadcast AHL games, they'll be showing some very good hockey.

A handful of established NHL stars - players such as Edmonton's Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Jordan Eberle, Carolina's Jeff Skinner and New Jersey's Adam Henrique - were assigned to AHL teams Saturday.

It's a talent infusion comparable to the one the league saw during the 2004-05 lockout when players like such as Marc-Andre Fleury, Eric Staal, Thomas Vanek, Mike Cammalleri, Zach Parise, Dustin Brown, Patrice Bergeron and Jason Spezza were sent down.

"It was terrific," Barrett said. "All the good young talent that would have been in the NHL was in the AHL. There was good veteran leadership, and there was more roster stability. It was a really high quality of play."

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